Home > Southern Discomfort: Tumultuous Literature set in the American South

Southern Discomfort: Tumultuous Literature set in the American South

The American South offers famous food, memorable music and honest hospitality, but why do so many authors dwell on the dark side of this region? Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora N. Hurston, Alex Haley’s Roots and The Color Purple by Alice Walker are acclaimed, but harrowing. Discrimination of all kinds, voodoo and other black arts, violence and murder, incest and rape – you will find them all prominently featured in Southern-themed literature.

And then there are the red-necks out in the wilderness, so graphically displayed in Deliverance by James Dickey – a story so powerful that Time Magazine listed it as one of the top 100 English language novels written since 1923. A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren is no walk in the park either – it is an aptly named novel that shows the nasty side of New Orleans.

Of course, our list includes William Faulkner, who set all but three of his novels in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County and was very aware of the South’s problems. Painful though these books might be, they are also tremendous reads.